FOXBORO — One of the five – that's right, count 'em, five – writers assigned by one of Boston's major metropolitan dailies to cover Tom Brady's momentous appearance on the practice field in Foxboro Thursday was eager to know why the Patriots' recuperating quarterback had been spotted riding a bicycle around suburban Boston without a helmet.

It wasn't quite as inane a question as when, at Super Bowl XXII, the Redskins' Doug Williams was asked how long he'd been a black quarterback, but it was in the ballpark – or stadium, as long as we're talking football.

But — hey! — inquiring minds want to know anything and everything about Tom Terrific.

Every detail, every tidbit — no matter how insignificant — about the Patriots' superstar celebrity quarterback is news.

Which is why the New York Times and Washington Post sent reporters to the workout – or, as they're now called, OTAs, for Organized Team Activity. As opposed, one supposes, to Disorganized Team Activities.

The session was inundated with a flood of media. There were 76 players on the field and, according to the Patriots' media relations department, 96 media members watching them.

It would have been understandable if that many media gathered for a Gisele Bundchen photo shoot. But all that attention for a gimpy-kneed, soon-to-be-32-year-old quarterback?

There were television cameras and accompanying "talent," not only from the local stations, but from ESPN and the NFL Network, as well. The dot.com crew was well represented, with internet bloggers flying in from as far away as Florida on behalf of ESPN.com, Fox.com., and CBS.com. And there were, of course, reporters from newspapers and radio stations, large and small, throughout New England.

All because Tom would be talking.

The Pats' P.R. people had placed a low riser about 8 inches high just below the stands where the TV cameras were arrayed. The print media gathered around it but, when Brady came strolling across the field, already flashing his glittering smile when he was still a 3rd-and-long away, he declined to stand on it.

He's just one of the guys, you know. Nobody special. Not above anybody else, figuratively or literally.

Yeah, right.

If Brady were just one of the guys – those guys who were heading inside to the locker room largely unnoticed — there's no way all that media would have been gathered to watch players in helmets, jerseys, sweatpants, but no pads, go through rudimentary passing drills on a grey, unseasonably chilly, morning in late May.

Clearly, Gisele isn't the only one in the Brady family with a paparazzi problem.

"I've been looking forward to this, guys," Tom said as he approached, that winsome smile taking the edge off the irony.

What Brady truly had been looking forward to was getting back on the football field with his teammates.

"I love being out here, around these guys," he said.

Since last playing pitch-and-catch with the guys, Brady has been jet-setting around the world with his gorgeous, supermodel wife, hopping from Paris, to Costa Rica, to L.A., to Brazil, to New York, living la dolce vita with the Beautiful People.

That lifestyle has created some questions about just how motivated Brady would be to do the rehab work necessary to return to the level he was in 2007, when he set an NFL record by throwing 50 touchdown passes while leading the Patriots to a 16-0 regular season and within seconds of winning a fourth Super Bowl.

It was a level that was head-and-shoulders above every other QB in the league — with no riser necessary, thank you very much.

But a lot has happened since then, and, as Bill Parcells once said, everybody likes to win on Sunday, but not everybody is willing to do Monday through Saturday what it takes to win on Sunday.

"Nobody likes to do the rehab," Brady said. "I'm glad we're back into the football stuff, back into throwing the ball on the field. That's the stuff I enjoy.

"I know it looks glamorous at times," he said of Life With Gisele. "But what I enjoy most is playing football. I love to compete."

He sorely missed the competition and the camaraderie while sitting out all but the first half of the first quarter of the 2008 season, which ended abruptly for him when Kansas City safety Bernard Pollard hit him low and tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee.

"I woke up the next day," Brady recalled, "and said: 'Was that a dream?' I'd never been injured. But I didn't dwell on it. I felt bad for myself that night, said 'That [stinks],' and then focused on the things I had to do to get better."

And he is, Brady stressed, all better.

"I feel as good as I can possibly feel," he said. "It doesn't bother me doing anything."

What bothered Brady was not being able to play, not being part of the team.

"Watching the games wasn't a problem," he said. "It was at the end of the game, when they'd be celebrating and, instead of being in the locker room, I was on my bed. And, when you lose, you're bummed because the team lost and I couldn't help. Sitting on the sidelines for an entire year, I realized how much I love it."

In case you were wondering, Brady even answered the question about the bicycle helmet.

"Do I need a helmet? I wasn't going that fast."

No wonder that, for Brady, the season opener can't come fast enough.

jdonalds @projo.com